Basic Bolognese Sauce

This is so easy everyone should be able to make this. It’s a crowd pleaser and is also very good for freezing in portions for later use. I always make big batches for this very purpose. You can easily scale the amounts.

The quantities used here will feed about 8, or 6 if everyone is hungry and wants seconds – they invariably do.

This is the most basic recipe, and is absolutely delicious in its own right. Many people add garlic, or red wine, or various herbs – feel free to experiment. Just don’t add too much other stuff. It doesn’t need it.

To feed a large table you will need the following ingredients (and a 5 liter pot):

You will also need plenty of time – this takes up to 3 hours, albeit you can leave it alone for most of it.

2 onions, finely chopped
2 large carrots, thinly sliced
2 sticks celery, thinly sliced
1 cup streaky bacon, or pancetta, chopped into small pieces
1 Ib minced pork
1 Ib minced beef
1 cup white wine
2 cups beef stock (or 500ml water and two stock cubes)
5 400g/14oz tins of chopped tomatoes
salt and pepper to season

Method
Heat the pan on a medium-high heat. When hot add a generous splash of olive oil and swirl it around.

Add the onions, celery, carrot, and bacon. Stir it up and keep it on the move in the pan for 5 to 8 minutes, until the vegetables have clearly softened. Make sure you breath in over the pan. They call these three vegetables the holy trinity and the smell they produce is magnificent.

Next add all the meat. Stir it in, and keep turning it over until the meat is browned.

Next, stir in the wine. Turn the heat up to maximum and boil the majority of it off.

With the heat still at maximum, pour in the stock and the chopped tomatoes. Stir thoroughly and bring to the boil.

Move to your smallest ring at its lowest setting and leave to simmer.

After an hour or so, come back and taste. Then season with some sea salt and pepper. This is a big vat of food so don’t be too stingy. Stir in and go away. Come back every 20 minutes or so and stir it through. Feel free to sip some of the liquid, I do all the time.

After about 2 to 3 hours (depending on the speed of your burner) it will have reduced down to a thick, meaty sauce and you can take it off the heat.

You can at this point add a cup of cream at the point of serving, although I tend not to.

You now have a large vat of bolognese sauce. Serve some on some pasta and whatever is left can go in ziploc bags in the freezer. I usually store about two ladles per bag for a single, generous serving. To defrost, put the bag in a bowl of hand-hot water. Takes about 15 minutes. You can also, of course, use this sauce to make lasagna.

Options
Add some cream at the end of cooking (but don’t store in the freezer with the cream).

add garlic to the oil before adding the vegetables.

Add herbs such as thyme and basil with the stock and tomatoes (fresh or dried)

Replace a cup of stock with a cup of red wine.

etc. etc. etc.

Wife tested and most definitely approved.

(I know the pictures are a little large but I could not be bothered changing the WordPress settings and re-uploading them. Put it down to the new theme and the need to experiment a little to get it right)